"Raising the Bar for Direct Support Professionals":

Joseph M. Macbeth, President/CEO, The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. As advocates, families, providers and policy makers find themselves at a critical point in shifting support models for people with disabilities toward individual autonomy and self-direction, this keynote offers a chance to reflect on how the strength of advocacy led the community living movement over the past 40 years.   We will also reflect on the changes coming to our system that are driven by funders, families and people with disabilities and how service organizations must implement continuous quality improvement practices in their approaches to empowering people to lead self-directed lives. This session will also address some of the issues that direct support professionals across the country are telling NADSP about their work, what they need to be successful and offer suggestions that promote the notion that "Quality is defined at the point of interaction" and how NADSP envisions that direct support professionals should walk side-by-side with those they support toward a life of freedom, dignity and choice. Macbeth will share some stories from the road, and some "uncomfortable truths" to make you consider things a little differently about the work of direct support professionals.

 

Macbeth Biography:

Joseph M. Macbeth is the Executive Director at the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and has worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities for 35 years - beginning as a Direct Support Professional.  Macbeth is recognized as a national leader in the advocacy & movement to recognize direct support as a profession and is a highly sought after speaker on the workforce challenges that affect the disability system. Macbeth has co-authored the Report to the President: America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis: Effects on People with Intellectual Disabilities, Families, Communities and the U.S. Economy for the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID, 2017), he was the Issue Editor for Impact: The Direct Support Workforce and People with Intellectual, Developmental, and Other Disabilities (University of Minnesota, 2018) and produced an award winning Realistic Job Preview titled "Working as a Direct Support Professional: We Get It Done" (NYSACRA 2011). While working in New York, Macbeth partnered with the State University of New York (SUNY) by assisting more than 500 direct support professionals advance their college education through the "Disability Studies Certificate". He currently sits on the board of directors for The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL), The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices (TLCPCP) and the College of Direct Support's National Advisory Board. In 2016, Macbeth was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as a Member of the Advisory Council for the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. He lives in Albany, NY.

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Learn more about NADSP on their website: https://www.nadsp.org/

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